LI Holocaust Survivor Who Hid from Nazis in Ukraine Cave Joins with LIJ Doctor, Spelunker and Film Crew as They Prepare to Return to Her Former Refuge
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A 74-year-old Long Island woman who survived the Holocaust with her Ukrainian family by hiding in local caves gathered today with physicians from Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Medical and members of an expedition who are traveling to the Ukraine next week to explore the grotto that provided refuge from the Nazis.
Fast-forward to 1993, when internationally known spelunker (and Queens resident) Chris Nicola was exploring Priest’s Grotto. Once inside, he discovered artifacts (old shoes, buttons, etc) that suggested signs of habitation. Intrigued, he began asking questions and learned that Jewish families hid in local caves to elude the Nazis. Mr. Nicola returned home and began an intensive online search to locate Grotto survivors, using a website on Ukrainian caves, www.uaycef.org. Finally, in 2002, he received an email from a man whose father-in-law was one of the orginal Priest’s Grotto survivors, and living in the Bronx.
At a news conference today at LIJ Medical Center, Mrs. Hochman joined with Mr. Nicola, and LIJ physician Kenneth Kamler, MD, an experienced explorer well-known for his writings on extreme survival conditions, who will depart for the Ukraine on August 14. Dr. Kamler and nurse Granis Stewart of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston will serve on the medical team that will care for the Holocaust survivors, their families and other explorers. Medical supplies for the expedition are being donated by LIJ Medical Center. They will be accompanied by Janet Tobias of Ikana Media, LLC and a film crew that will document the historic visit. Mrs. Hochman, who still has vivid memories of her family’s miraculous survival, will be returning to the cave for the first time in more than 60 years with several members of her family, including two uncles, one in his 70 and one in his 80s, who visited Priest’s Grotto on a previous occasion. For Mrs. Hochman, the trip is a combination of apprehension and liberation. “I am returning to Priest’s Grotto to prove to my children and grandchildren that good does triumph over evil. We owe it to our relatives who were lost to the Nazis to tell their story of heroism—and our story of survival,” she said.
North Shore-LIJ Health System President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Dowling and LIJ Medical Director Jeremy Boal, MD, agreed to support the mission after learning about it from Dr. Kamler. “We believe it is a testimony to the strength and endurance of the human spirit that Mrs. Hochman and other members of her family are willing to return to Priest’s Grotto in a spirit of reflection and triumph to study the conditions under which they lived for 344 days,” said Mr. Dowling. “The business of medicine is to heal—both the heart and the mind—and that is exactly what Mrs. Hochman is accomplishing by facing her fears and returning to the Ukraine. We are privileged to know her and assist the explorers in this historic mission.”
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